Trailer problem

[pmhansen]

Good morning,

My daughter recently purchased an Investigator and yesterday was to be it's maiden voyage. Unfortunately we were unable to launch simply because the boat is mounted on a modified trailer and sits too high. We tried three different ramps so didn't give up easily!

Our family owned an Ultimate 18 for nine years in the 80's so we are not without some experience. Two close friends also owned Investigators and we often sailed together. They never had the trouble we had yesterday.

If someone wouldn't mind letting me know the distance from say the bottom of the transom on their boat to the ground measured on a flat surface please that would be great. Some photos of the original purpose built trailer would be very handy as well so we can see how they should be.
Many thanks and regards
Peter H

[Peter T]

Hi Peter. I have my boat on a lift at the moment but I have worked out that with the boat on the trailer, the distance from the bottom of the transom to the floor of the garage would be around 950 mm. With my trailer, the top of the back roller is 390mm off the ground. Does your trailer have a "Tilt" function ? I do know that with the original trailer, it was only necessary to put the wheels in the water up to about axle height I believe and then launch was relatively easy using the trailer tilt from there. I have built myself a new trailer which I made a bit higher due to the back of the trailer being too low to get in and out of my driveway. It was ridiculously low. I am sure others will give you the measurements you are after from a standard trailer.
The other thing that can effect launch is the height of the tow ball on your vehicle. If this happens to be set way too low, then that will obviously raise the back of your trailer. Might be something worth looking at ?
Just on another subject, when I built my new trailer, I built it with an extendable tow bar for the exact reason you are talking about. I can get it to about 3 metres longer for launch and retrieval if required. Have a look under " Technical articles" on page 2 about three quarters of the way down and you will see there where I posted all about my new trailer. Might be worth a look.
This is with the extension extended

This shows the extension folded up for towing
Cheers

And this shows how the extension is held into its home position
When it is extended, I just hold it in place with the same pin shown here and locked there with an R clip underneath

You should be able to add something similar. If you need, I can give you better photos.
Cheers

[pmhansen]

Hi Peter,
Thanks so much for your detailed reply and photos. The boat is stored at our sons place
and I won’t be able to check it out for a couple of
days. Will take some photos so you can
see the set-up.
Cheers Peter

PS . Hi Peter,

Just got a nice surprise! You live in Ulverstone and I live in Devonport! I looked at the boat again today and did some measurements but once i saw you lived so close I thought it would be much better if we could catch up some time. Let me know if this might be possible.

Cheers Peter

[Raya]

Peter H,
Welcome to the forum. I'd give the previous owner a call and ask for advice. If the boat hasn't been used for a long time, maybe the rollers are just stuck.

The bottom of the transom of my boat is 1.0m from the ground. My method of launching is to back the trailer until the rear wheels of the tow vehicle are just at the edge of the water. I then tilt the trailer and give a push. The boat slides off nicely.

Let us know how you go.

Ray

[Ozzie]

Hi Peter welcome from me also . I’m moored but I have the bog standard trailer so looking at similar dimensions to others . I sometimes dunk the whole trailer for retrieval as I’m not as spry on a winch handle anymore. Takes the strain off the rig, the trailer and oldmate on the handle. Having fitted a three speed winch will hopefully aid with that in future. Maybe dunking the whole works will help a bit. I just try to hose the trailer right down immediately after doing it so that the salt does not dry in places you don’t want salt drying. Good luck , plenty of good advice from regular trailer people on here.

[Ozzie]

Evening all , I’ve moved this thread into “ technical “ for easier reference in future

[Peter T]

Hi Peter. I have sent you a private message with my details. Best to look at that and give me a call so we can get together.
Cheers